Another one bites the dust: Shaughnessy

It was confirmed this afternoon that Matt Shaughnessy, the last remaining healthy defensive lineman on the Wisconsin roster, broke his leg in practice last night. Great. Does Azree Commander have any eligibility left?

To recap, the walking wounded on the D-line include: Shaughnessy, Kirk DeCremer, Jason Chapman, Brandon Hoey, Dan Moore, Dan Cascone, and Mike Newkirk. So at the spring game tomorrow it's Jeff Stehle, O'Brien Schofield, and some guys they picked up at the Nat on the D-line.

At one point, the injuries didn't bother me, because they allowed some younger guys to get more reps in spring practice. But this is ridiculous. Assuming all of these guys are back in time for fall camp - a big assumption that it is probably not appropriate to make - the unit should be at least mediocre. But add that on top of our two best cornerbacks recovering from knee injuries, and the defense becomes even more of a question mark than it was in January.

Then again ... last year's unit came in with a lot of hype and underdelivered. I've got a feeling that we'll be really down on the D coming into this season and they'll play better than expectations. Why?

1. I think Shaughnessy will be back and fully healthy by August and dominate this fall.
2. I think Jonathan Casillas and DeAndre Levy will be All-Big Ten-type guys this season, and Elijah Hodge and his platoon mates will be good enough in the middle.
3. I think Shane Carter will show a more well-rounded game, and our play at cornerback will not be disastrous.
4. Our defense has been really good in even-numbered years under Bielema. That one's a stretch, and I don't think this unit will be as good as those from 2004 and 2006 ... but what were your expectations for the defense in those years?

We may have the offensive horses to win some shootouts this fall, but who can tell with the offense playing against the JV squad. Has there been a less interesting spring game in recent memory? Like most people, I'm most interested in seeing if Allan Evridge or Dustin Sherer outplay one another, and how Johnny Clay looks.

Sunday morning thoughts

-The injury to Jason Chapman seems serious enough to likely keep him out of the Michigan game, so my thoughts for the D-line - DeCremer starting at DE, Newkirk playing more at DT - are about to come true, although not in the way I imagined. That's a huge blow to an already thin unit. Really wish some of those early games had been more lopsided so Stehle and Cascone could have gotten more experience.

-Here's another kick in the groin for non-Big Ten Networkers: the Badger basketball team kicks off exhibition play tonight at 7 p.m. against Edgewood in a game on the BTN. UW also plays Wednesday night against Eau Claire on the BTN. No big deal you say? These are just two of at least 21 games I count that will be on the BTN. So this fight isn't over just because the Wisconsin-Ohio State game is over, or at least it shouldn't be.

-Our Iola-Scandinava Thunderbirds advanced to the state football semifinals with a thrilling 29-22 win over private school power Stevens Point Pacelli Friday night. The game was played just down the block from our house, and we've never seen suge a crowd for a game, great atmosphere. Next up is Fennimore, Luke Swan's alma mater, and I just hope our kids don't have the feeling they just won state by beating Pacelli ... although I can't imagine our coach will let that happen.

-West Bend East lost to Watertown in the state volleyball finals last night in their first trip to state since 2001. Seems like the proper team won, as East was mainly an undersized group of scrappers who fell behind 2-0 and rallied in its first two matches at state. Apparently many of their key players went to my grade school, St. Frances Cabrini - SFC Warriors represent!

-Can't believe Michigan is in position to be a top 10 team, when they still haven't beaten anyone. Tell me why they were ranked #12 yesterday, about 10 spots ahead of us, with the same record, same amount of quality wins (zero), but more losses to I-AA teams.

-Andy and I watched the LSU-Alabama game, what an exciting game with talented athletes and great coaches. Then you switch on Illinois-Minnesota ... zzzzzzzzzz. I've been a Big Ten defender all the way, but it's now reached the point where the SEC is so much better than our conference that there's no way to spin it. Florida's domination of Ohio State in the title game last season was emphatic, and if LSU survives to face the Buckeyes in New Orleans this year it will be another rout.

-Yi Jianlian played really well for the Bucks in their win over the Bulls last night. Our much-hyped rookie from China shows a nice shooting touch, and should be able to combine with Redd for a tough-to-defend pick and roll combo. My favorite thing about him last night was his aggressiveness against some tough interior defenders. At one point, he went up for a dunk and had it blocked, thought he got fouled. But a couple minutes later he drove to the rim and tried to dunk again - and had it blocked again, cleanly. I liked how he stayed on the attack.

-Marquette lost a potential contributor when Trevor Mbakwe was lost for the season with a knee injury. The kid seems to have gotten a raw deal, held up from practice by the NCAA clearinghouse, now injured. They're pretty thin inside, which will probably preclude them from winning anything really significant this season.